“We have to wait and see now what the Crown is going to do,” said Randy Piercey, who represents former vice-president of sales William Parsons.
Piercey was one of five local lawyers who were in Ottawa this week to argue the merits of a provincial Court of Appeal decision that ordered a stay of proceedings against the men, as a result of the time it took to get the case to trial.
Along with Parsons, former general manager Hubert Hunt, chief financial officer Gary Hillyard and sales manager John King were charged following the company’s 2002 insolvency and bankruptcy — one of the largest in the province’s history. The superintendent of bankruptcy requested an investigation 10 years before charges were ultimately laid.
The men faced a total 16 counts of fraud, along with single counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, falsifying books and circulating a false prospectus, based on the results of investigations.
But issue was taken with the timeline and a challenge was launched citing pre-trial delay.
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Crown appeals Hickman Equipment case to Supreme Court of Canada
Following an hour-long hearing, the panel ruled that the 10-year investigation was justified, given the complexity of the investigation that saw immense amounts of evidence. All but judge one agreed that there was no evidence to suggest the RCMP did anything wrong during the investigation.
“We’re satisfied with the decision and we’re ready to bring the matter back to Supreme Court (of Newfoundland) for trial,” Crown prosecutor Lloyd Strickland told The Telegram the day after returning from Ottawa.
When asked if the parties could work out a deal without going to trial, Strickland replied, “It’s possible, but we’ve had no discussion about that.”
The charges against the men were stayed in February 2015, as a result of a decision from Justice Carl Thompson of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador. The case was taken to the provincial Court of Appeal, with the majority supporting Thompson’s decision.
There was one dissenting opinion there from Justice Lois Hoegg. She warned about the risk of complex crimes not seeing their day in court when lengthy investigations are needed.
Hoegg stated, “The investigation involved many transactions, many people, many locations and much time. In short, it was both complex and massive. To describe it as less would be disingenuous,” she said. “The evidence discloses no suggestion of improper conduct, wrongdoing, bad faith, improper motivation, or vexatiousness in the Crown’s conduct of the investigation.”
The dissent opened the door to a Supreme Court of Canada appeal.
On Wednesday, Piercey, John Brooks, Derek Hogan and Jon Noonan shared 30 minutes of time, arguing on behalf of the accused men and in favour of upholding the stay of proceedings. Strickland spoke for the Crown and tried to make his case for a new trial in 30 minutes.
The majority of the Justices — Rosalie Silberman Abella, Michael Moldaver, Andromache Karakatsanis, Richard Wagner, Clément Gascon and Russell Brown — ultimately agreed with Hoegg’s opinion, suggesting that the original trial judge erred.
There was one dissenting opinion from Justice Suzanne Coté.
The bankruptcy of Hickman Equipment involved more than $93 million in straight losses to the company’s creditors. The company was $113 million in debt when it went out of business roughly 15 years ago.
No date has been set yet for the return of the case to court in this province.
